Something Special
by loveadubdub
Summary: They've been doing this whole flirting thing. He doesn't hate it. He likes it. He's just confused, and he's not used to that when it comes to girls. Part of him just wants to go for it, but part of him is worried about what going for it actually means. Because it's Rachel. And Rachel comes with a whole lot of stuff he's not sure either of them are really ready to handle.


**SOMETHING SPECIAL**

…

He sees something special in Spencer Porter.

Yeah, he's got an awesome throwing arm, and he's also a super kickass receiver, but it's more than that. He sees way more than football talent in him, and he can't help but be drawn to him.

To tell the truth, Spencer's kind of a dick. He's not the nicest person, and he doesn't really waste much time when it comes to insulting people or talking shit. Sam's kind of surprised nobody's tried to kick his ass yet, but he does kind of give off that vibe that says he would cause somebody serious pain if they tried to mess with him. But even under all the dickiness, Sam can't help but think there's a whole other layer to him.

Sam's not dumb, contrary to what some people may think. He may not be the most brilliant person in the world, but he's pretty perceptive. He can read people pretty well, and he notices things. Like he notices Spencer skulking around the choir room. He's not nearly as smooth as he probably thinks he is, which is a shame really because otherwise he might really have a shot at pulling off the whole too badass for anything vibe. But it turns out he's just another normal teenager who's trying way too hard to fit in with the cool crowd.

Sam's head is kind of all over the place lately. Like seriously, he doesn't know what's going on half the time, and there are these huge gaps in his memory. So when he suddenly finds himself sitting in the choir room with Rachel, he really doesn't have a freaking clue how he got there. She's been acting weird around him lately, and he doesn't know what's up with any of it. But he totally means it when he says he'll do anything for her, and when she says she could really use some extra members for New Directions, he's got one person in mind.

He's a little concerned that Kurt and Blaine are apparently missing- like back of the milk carton missing. He knows they're both grownups and that they would probably call or something if they were seriously in danger, but he gets a little worried when he texts Blaine like fifty times and doesn't get an answer. He knows Rachel's freaking out about it, too, so he decides to put all his effort into helping her figure out her Invitational problems. And that basically means going after Spencer.

He knows Kurt tried already, but he also heard directly from Spencer's mouth. "Next time one of your gay boys needs a favor, tell them to skip me because I don't give a crap." Sam didn't say much to him then, but he's pretty sure Spencer's been into the idea ever since, even if he won't come out and say it.

So he goes to Spencer, and getting him to join is easier than he expected. He pretty much just calls him out on being afraid of what people think, and he's kind of surprised that Spencer doesn't even really deny it that much. And seriously? Sam gets it. He remembers wanting to join glee club but being too afraid of what other people would say or assume about him. He thought being quarterback would give him enough edge at school that people wouldn't mess with him, but he was wrong. People were going to mess with him anyway. It didn't matter that he was quarterback for half a second, it didn't matter that he was dating _the _prettiest girl in school who also happened to be the head cheerleader. None of that mattered because there was always some douchebag waiting around the corner to shove him into a locker or throw a slushie at his face.

And for real? It's kind of messed up that his best friend in the world is now having sex with the first person who ever doused him in slushie, but that's a whole other story.

But at the end of the day, none of that mattered because he had real friends- not just the kind who like to snap each other on the butt with towels in the locker room. Like real, actual friends. And he got to do something he really loved. There's no way in hell he'd ever trade his time in glee club for like… _anything. _So he's not lying when he tells Spencer it'll be the best decision he ever makes.

…

His apartment isn't the greatest by any stretch of the imagination. It's tiny and cramped, the appliances are probably twenty years older than him, and sometimes the toilet won't flush. But still, it's _his _apartment, and that really means something.

He's spent years being a guest in someone else's home, and he's finally got a place that's actually _his. _He isn't just crashing with someone because he has no other choice. This is his apartment, his name on the lease, and no one can just kick him out on the street. And yeah, it's super small, but he's lived in a hotel room with four other people before, so he can deal with the fact that this studio is about the size of some people's bedroom.

He's got a steady job, and yeah, maybe he doesn't make a ton of money or anything, but he makes enough to pay his rent and his bills. That's all that really matters right now. And he's got a little bit of money saved from his brief foray into the modeling world, so if an emergency comes up, he should be alright. He's finally standing on his own two feet, and he's really never felt better in his entire life.

He's heating up a frozen dinner when somebody knocks on his door. The only person who comes over regularly is Blaine, but since he's apparently still a missing person, Sam doesn't really figure it's him. He goes to open it, and he's pretty surprised to see Rachel standing there on his welcome mat.

"Hey." His voice probably gives away his surprise.

"Hey," and she smiles at him, one of those huge signature Rachel Berry smiles. "I know I should have texted first, but I just left school and wanted to drop by on my way home."

He opens the door for her, suddenly super aware of the dirty dishes in the sink and the pile of unfolded laundry on the end of the futon. She's been over here before, but that doesn't mean he's not a little embarrassed by the fact that things are kind of messy and cluttered. He just doesn't have a lot of room to work with, so it's hard to keep everything perfectly neat.

She doesn't say anything about the mess, though. She just leans against the kitchen counter and looks a little nervous. He's not sure why, and nervous isn't a normal look for her.

"Spencer came to glee tonight."

Sam nods. "Yeah. I figured he would."

"Sam…" She hesitates for a second. "Thank you. Really."

He just shrugs. "I knew he really wanted to join anyway. He just needed a little push."

"What was he afraid of?"

"Being a stereotype, I think." Sam's not going to tell all the kid's secrets or anything because he likes that Spencer trusts him enough to open up, so he just keeps it basic. "He doesn't want people to treat him like he's different. You know, same story, different dude."

Rachel just nods slowly, and she jumps when the microwave dings. "Are you making dinner?"

He nods and goes over to take out his now nuked enchilada and rice. "Do you want some?"

Rachel makes a face, and it actually makes him laugh. She obviously realizes she's kind of being rude or something, though, because she hurries to cover it up. "It's almost midnight."

"I know. I forgot to eat." It's sad but true. "I'm surprised y'all didn't pull an all-nighter."

"I thought about it, but that's not really good for anyone. I figure it's better if everyone just gets some rest, and then we can start fresh in the morning. And anyway, we're basically just foregoing choreography and just doing the songs straight."

Sam grabs a fork from the drawer and tries to mix up his rice. "That's probably a good idea. I'm not really a fan of choreography myself."

Rachel laughs at that, and he smiles at her. It's not like it's a secret that he's pretty much the least coordinated person on the planet when it comes to dancing. Or life in general really.

"Did you get Kitty?"

"Yes! Thank god. I was worried she wasn't going to break."

"I knew she would. You just had to give her time to have her bitch moment. That's how she rolls."

"I probably should have just had you go after her, too. At least she couldn't accuse you of not knowing anything about her or her friends. I don't think I ever even spoke to a single one of them."

"They're really cool."

"Kitty's not happy that they all abandoned her."

Sam raises an eyebrow. "They didn't abandon her. Sue ran them off. And it really sucks, too, because they were comfortable at McKinley, and they deserved the chance to stay there."

"Do you still talk to any of them?"

He shrugs. "Ryder and Jake some. Not a ton, though. It sucks because they're really cool, and if Sue didn't run them off, you'd have them in glee. And I'd have Ryder on the team."

"Do you think we could get them back?"

"Doubt it. They're pretty bitter. And even if they weren't, Sue would never let them come back."

Rachel frowns, and he can pretty much read what's happening inside her head. "I'm never going to understand why she _hates _us so much."

Sam just shrugs again. "Not like we can change it anyway. Might as well embrace it."

"I'm really glad you're here, Sam," and she sounds totally sincere. "I don't know how I could handle Sue and all the rest of it if you weren't

He smiles at her. He's always been a little unsure about how to handle compliments, but it still feels pretty good. "You want to sit down?" And he's once again very aware of how cluttered everything is.

Rachel doesn't seem to mind, though, and she sits down beside him on the futon. The pile of laundry on his other side looks way worse up close, and he does his best to block as much of it as he can, even though he knows he's not hiding it at all.

"Did you hear from Kurt?" He's careful not to drop any of his food, so he balances it in one hand while he tries to hold a halfway non-awkward conversation.

Rachel's frowning again, obviously not happy. "No, he won't call me back. You didn't talk to Blaine, did you?"

He shakes his head. "No. I've texted him like a million times. His phone just goes straight to voicemail."

"Do you think something's wrong?"

He's really not sure. Obviously something _could _be wrong, but chances are they're okay… It's just really weird.

He's about to answer her, but things go from slightly awkward to majorly uncomfortable a second later when a familiar noise starts coming from the apartment above him. He kind of wants to disappear, but the look on Rachel's face makes him smile.

"All the time," he says, not needing to give anymore explanation to the steady thumping above their heads that can only mean one thing.

"Are they always that _loud?"_

"It'll get worse in like two minutes." He's pretty much got their routine down to a timed science.

So they sit and just listen to the people above them having sex until almost exactly two minutes later when the other noises join in with the thumping. Rachel's eyes are so wide, and then she actually giggles, which makes him laugh because it definitely makes things less awkward.

"How much longer?"

"About forty-five seconds, give or take a few."

And he's not lying, either. It's over just like that, and they sit there in stunned silence until Rachel just lets out a full blown laugh.

"Don't they know it's supposed to take longer than that?"

He doesn't even know what to say to that because that's pretty much something he never expected Rachel Berry to say. But maybe there's a lot he doesn't know about her.

"I think they like quantity over quality. You might hear them again in like half an hour."

"Wow. I don't think I can stick around for that unfortunately. I need to get home and try to rest a little bit, so we can be ready to go tomorrow."

"Are you nervous?"

She shrugs one shoulder. "Eh, kind of. I feel better now. We've got a secret weapon."

"Missiles?"

Rachel laughs again and rolls her eyes. "No. Our set list."

"I hope you scrapped Mr. Jesus or whatever the hell that was."

"Yeah. Scrapped it. But thanks for introducing me to it, that was lovely."

He's still not completely sure what was happening that day or why he had those stupid songs that he'd literally never even heard of. But whatever, at least Rachel was smart enough to pick something else.

"What'd you do? Like break into Sue's office and steal all her favorite songs or something? Because I can already tell you that it doesn't matter how awesome you are, there's no way in hell Sue is letting y'all win."

Rachel doesn't say anything, but the look on her face gives her away completely. And he was just joking, but wow. "Oh, my god. You really did."

"It was Kitty's idea!"

"The last time Kitty had an idea, I ended up in a Left Behind club."

"A what?"

He shakes his head. "Never mind. You better pray Sue doesn't find out. She'll kill you."

"She's not going to find out. Kitty figured the whole thing out, and really, it was Becky's fault."

"Saying something was _Becky's _idea is even worse than saying it was _Kitty's."_

Rachel doesn't seem too concerned, though. She just shrugs one shoulder. "Sue isn't going to find out. And we're going to kick butt tomorrow. You're coming, right?"

"Yeah, of course. Somebody has to be a police witness when Sue murders all of you."

"Oh, you wouldn't get murdered with us?"

"I'll sit close to the exit, so I can make a break for it."

"You know, that's pretty rude." Her eyes are playful, and he won't pretend like he hates it, so he just shrugs.

"I promise I'll tell the cops everything and try to have your death vindicated."

"I think you mean avenged."

"Probably."

…

New Directions ends up winning in some ungodly twist where Sue Sylvester is the judge and actually picks them.

Sam can't believe it, and neither can anyone else. Everyone is super happy, though, and they all go out for celebratory pizza after the competition. Kurt and Blaine are back, but all Sam gets out of them is that Sue trapped them in a fake elevator somewhere, and he's kind of not even all that surprised. Blaine doesn't join them for pizza- probably because it would look bad to the Warblers or something, but he does tell everybody congratulations and doesn't seem super upset that his team came in last place.

The pizza seems like a pretty good idea, especially considering the fact that all the new kids seem to get along really well and are on a major high from their first competition win. Sam tags along because he's bored and because even though he's not technically a New Direction coach or anything, he still feels really connected to them.

Rachel's busy getting caught up with Kurt, obviously not taking the whole trapped in the fake elevator thing nearly as easily as Sam is. Nothing really surprises him anymore, though, especially when it comes to Sue, so he can one-hundred percent believe that she would kidnap Kurt and Blaine and trap them during the competition. He has no clue what her motive is, but he also doesn't really think she even needs one. She's just kind of crazy.

He sits down beside Spencer because he hasn't really had a chance to talk to him since the whole joining New Directions thing happened.

"So?" He reaches for a roll of silverware and unwraps it. "How do you like it so far?"

Spencer side-eyes him a little bit and shrugs. "I guess it's not _that _bad."

"You knew it wasn't going to be bad."

"Okay, so rub it in."

Sam opens his mouth to say something back, but he gets interrupted by Kitty who sits down in front of them. "Sup, losers?"

Sam smiles broadly at her. "You're such a doll."

She returns the forced smile and squinches up her eyes. "I try."

"So I hear you're a rebel now. Maybe you should stop coming up with ideas that might actually get people murdered."

Kitty rolls her eyes. "I'm not scared of Sue Sylvester. I know way too much about her."

"When she disembowels you, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Wow, you've learned some big words." Sam really wants to tell her to go fuck herself, but now that he's technically a teacher (sort of), he's not really sure he can do that. It doesn't matter anyway because she keeps right on talking. "So this is your new protégé, huh?" and she swings her head at Spencer before looking right at him. "Word to the wise, gay boy, your mentor here is a straight up idiot, _and _I have it on good authority that he likes to play dress up in Cheerios' skirts."

Sam has no idea what she's talking about for about three seconds, but then he remembers. "How the hell-"

"Becky tells me things," she cuts him off and turns back to Spencer. "Anyway, maybe you're into that, I don't know, you probably are. But he's not the brightest bulb in the box, to say the least. He used to be blonde, but then he started dying his hair- or _stopped _dying it, I really don't know- I think to look smarter or something. But it didn't really work, which I'm sure you know if you've had the pleasure of taking his health class."

"You're not in my class." Sam manages to cut her off for half a second, but she keeps right on going.

"I have friends, thank you." Her head flips back to Spencer. "Oh, yeah, and he used to be a stripper."

Spencer's eyes are kind of big, and he looks at Sam who can't really deny it or whatever. "You used to be a stripper?"

"For like five minutes."

Spencer chokes out a laugh, and Sam doesn't know whether to be offended or what. "Sorry, dude. "That's just weird."

"Don't make fun of him. He loves his body. Like a lot."

Sam kind of wants to stab her with the closest eating utensil, but he's never really been too confident about his chances of surviving in prison, so he doesn't. So instead, he musters up every ounce of sweetness he can and says, "Talk to me when your abs make you thousands of dollars on the side of a New York City bus. Then we'll see who's laughing."

…

"So are you going to tell me what's going on with you and Rachel, or do I have to guess?" Blaine sits down with a latte and hands Sam a coffee. They've both been pretty busy, but they manage to catch a break together at the Lima Bean after school one day.

"Nothing's going on with us. Nothing out of the usual anyway."

"Really? Because that's not what I hear."

Sam forces himself not to roll his eyes. "And where did you hear that?"

"Two guesses."

Sam pretends to think for a second. "TMZ?"

"One guess."

This time Sam really does roll his eyes. "Since when are you and Kurt so buddy buddy"

"We talk."

"Yeah? Does Karofsky know that?"

"_Dave _knows Kurt and I are friends, yes."

"Just friends."

Blaine nods. "Just friends.."

"Like me and Rachel."

"Would you like some coffee with that cup of sugar?" Blaine sounds super judgey as he watches Sam dump about eight sugar packets into his cup.

Sam just ignores him. "Look, I don't know what's going on with us. It's weird."

"Weird good or weird bad?"

"I don't know. Both?"

"So you like her?"

Sam lifts a shoulder. "I've always liked her. We're friends."

"And you're attracted to her?"

That's a pretty stupid question. "Dude, I know she's not really your type, but look at her. She's freaking hot."

"I've made out with her, remember?"

"Yeah. So you get it."

"Then what's the problem?"

Sam doesn't know what's so damn hard to understand. "The problem is she's _Rachel."_

Blaine just stares at him, clearly completely lost.

"She's Rachel. We're friends, and it's weird."

Blaine takes a very long sip of his coffee, and then he sucks his lips in like he's concentrating really hard. "Sam, you are my best friend, and I mean this in the least offensive way possible. But since when is being friends with someone a problem for you? You have literally made out with every girl we know."

"I have not made out with every girl we know."

Blaine raises his eyebrows. "Except you kind of have…"

"Yeah, okay, and how great has that worked out for me so far? I need a break from girls. Maybe forever."

Blaine lets out a little sigh. "Sam, you can't stop putting yourself out there just because you've had some crappy stuff happen so far. I mean, you're only nineteen. You're really going to swear off love forever?"

"What's the point of it?!" and he's actually being pretty serious. "It always ends up sucking in the end, doesn't it? I mean, you know that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you _know _that. You were _obsessed _with getting back together with Kurt, and what happened? You fought all the time, and then you broke up again."

"And weren't you the one telling me to get back out there and start dating again after we broke up?"

Okay, so he's right. That doesn't mean he's _right. _"Yeah, and look how that turned out."

"What's _that _supposed to mean?"

"It means you're dating, Karofsky, dude! And I know you say you like him or whatever, but it's _weird, _okay?"

Seriously, he's tried to keep his opinions about Blaine's new boyfriend mostly to himself, but he just can't do it anymore. It's weird and gross, and seriously, he knows Karofsky's supposedly changed, but whatever. It's weird.

"Maybe you should actually get to know Dave before you start saying stuff about him."

"Oh, I know him. He gave me a massive black eye once. If you'd like to see it, just check out any of Burt and Carole's wedding pictures."

Blaine frowns and then takes another drink of his latte. "That's not who he is anymore."

"Okay, fine. I get that. I still think it's weird."

"And that's fine," Blaine sounds pretty snippy. "But don't be offended that I'm not really asking for opinions."

So Sam just shrugs. "Fine."

"And anyway, this isn't about me. It's about you."

"What about me? I don't want to date anyone right now. What's the big damn deal?"

"Okay, if you _really _don't want to date anyone, then that's fine. But I can tell there's something else going on."

Sometimes having Blaine as a best friend is really exhausting, mostly because he is completely incapable of just leaving stuff alone. Any time he thinks something is wrong, he doesn't stop until he gets it all figured out. He definitely always means well, but sometimes Sam would like him to just shut up for five seconds.

"I don't want to hurt Mercedes." And there it is.

Blaine just stares at him. Then he kind of shakes his head a little bit. "Mercedes broke up with you. Several times, if I recall. I really don't think you dating someone else is going to hurt her."

Sam rolls his eyes. "She broke up with me because I cheated on her. And because she said I would resent her or some crap because of the whole sex thing, but I don't even care!"

"Okay… but that doesn't change the fact that she broke up with you. If she wanted to be with you, she would be. You have to move on and stop beating yourself up over something. You told me the exact same thing two years ago, and now I'm telling you. Mercedes isn't your girlfriend, so if you want to go out and start dating people, then go do it. Hell, do you even talk to her?"

"Sometimes. She's really busy."

"How do you know she's not dating someone then?"

"Because she would tell me if she was."

"Maybe she would. I don't know. But what I do know is that she's not your girlfriend, and if she didn't want you to date other people, she wouldn't have broken up with you and told you to do exactly that."

"And she's friends with Rachel, so that's just wrong."

Blaine actually rolls his eyes. "And now we're back to the fact that you have dated pretty much every female we know. Who have you e_ver _dated that wasn't friends with your ex-girlfriends?"

"Penny."

"Right. And what even happened to her?"

Sam shrugs.

"So seriously," Blaine keeps right on going. "Stop holding yourself back from something I _know _you want to do because you feel guilty about something that happened months ago."

Yeah, that's a lot easier said than done.

…

Rachel sneaks up on him while he's in the gym trying to figure out plays for Friday's game. He doesn't even notice her until she's sliding onto the bleacher beside him and saying hi.

"What are you doing?"

He holds up the playbook. "Trying to figure out how to win against a team that has linebackers three times the size of my first string."

"Why are you working out here?"

"Because the locker room smells like dirty socks and ball sweat." He doesn't even realize what he's said until he sees the disgusted look on Rachel's face, and then he laughs. "It's gross. Trust me."

She wrinkles her nose and leans back a little against the row behind her. "Well, it looks like you've got some admirers out here."

Sam's confused at first until he follows her eyes to the girls' gym class that's allegedly supposed to be stretching, even though there's a whole pack of girls who are huddled up whispering and looking right over at him. When he catches them, they all erupt in this huge fit of giggles, and he doesn't know whether to be flattered or creeped out.

"They always do that," he mumbles, more embarrassed that Rachel's calling it out than anything else. "Pretty much everywhere."

"Well, are you surprised? You've like replaced Mr. Schue as the hot teacher at McKinley."

"Mr. Schue was the _hot _teacher?"

Rachel gives him a look like she can't tell if he's being serious. "Um… yes. Pretty much exclusively."

Sam wasn't really aware of that, but thinking about it, it kind of makes sense.

"And you think I'm hot." It's a statement more than a question, and he's totally teasing her. He lifts his eyebrows and dares her to contradict her earlier statement. Rachel, though, doesn't miss a beat.

"Compared to Mr. Kidney, the janitor… Yeah, obviously." He shoves her shoulder with his own, and she giggles. "All I'm saying is don't be surprised next semester when your health class fills up super quickly with a bunch of girls. That's all."

"But… you think I'm hot."

Rachel rolls her eyes. "Don't you have a game to be planning or something?"

"Stop trying to change the subject."

"Maybe I should leave you alone before your groupies decide to attack me."

Sam just smirks and shakes his head. "Don't worry. I can protect you from a bunch of fifteen year old girls."

"You should probably just worry about protecting yourself. I used to be a fifteen year old girl. They're a little bit crazy."

"So you don't think you're still crazy?"

"Sam," and she looks at him with what he knows is fake sternness. "You should choose the rest of this conversation _very _carefully."

"Crazy about me anyway." And he winks at her for good measure.

"Oh, my god," and she laughs when she stands up. "I'm done with you."

"You sure you're willing to walk away from all this?" and he lets his eyes dart down his body before going back to hers suggestively.

"Goodbye, Sam." Rachel doesn't entertain him for a second longer before she's climbing down the bleachers.

He laughs after her, but he also kind of gets distracted by the way her skirt rides up as she navigates the steps. It's not like he's never noticed her skirts before. He's known her since he was fifteen- he's _definitely _noticed her skirts. Still, it feels kind of different now because there's all this "stuff" between them. And to be totally honest, he's not even sure if all the stuff is really there, or if he's just imagining some of it. But they keep doing this… _flirting _or whatever.

He doesn't hate it. He _likes _it. He's just confused, and he's not used to that when it comes to girls. Part of him just wants to go for it, but part of him is worried about what going for it actually means. Because it's _Rachel. _

And Rachel comes with a whole lot of stuff that he's not sure either of them are really ready to handle.

…

She texts him in the middle of the afternoon and asks if he can help her with glee. Apparently Kurt thinks he has strep throat or something, and he left to go to the doctor. Since Sam's already adjusted his practice schedule to accommodate Spencer, he agrees to help.

He goes to the choir room a few minutes early, and when he gets there, Rachel kind of seems like she's freaking out a little bit. She's got a bunch of piles of sheet music laid out all over the piano, and he can tell she's about to have a meltdown or something.

"What's up?"

She doesn't even look up. "Sectionals is five weeks away. I have no idea what I'm doing. We have no set list. We don't even have enough members to compete!"

Sam leans against the piano. "That pretty much sounds like every single competition New Directions has ever participated in…"

Her head snaps up, and her eyes are that special kind of fiery that's actually terrifying. "Well, this time it's _my _responsibility, and I have no clue what the hell I'm doing."

"Rachel… Everything's going to be fine. You've got plenty of time to figure it out."

"Five weeks is not plenty of time." She starts grabbing sheet music and flinging in into new stacks. "We should already be in the finalizing stages, just ironing stuff out. And we haven't even _started _yet. We don't even have enough people!"

"Hey," and he puts a hand around her shoulder before he thinks about it. "Calm down, okay? We'll get enough members. I'll recruit more of the football players, or Kitty can blackmail the Cheerios or something. It'll work out, okay?"

She stops slamming sheet music around, but her eyes are all wet, and he can tell she's like two seconds from crying. "I just don't want to screw it up."

"You're not gonna screw it up."

He can barely even hear her when she says, "I screw _everything _up…"

Sam doesn't know what to say, so he just keeps his hand around her shoulder and pulls her a little closer, giving her a squeeze because he doesn't know what else to do. She relaxes into him, and right now, he's really just hoping she doesn't start crying.

"I screwed up New York. I screwed up LA. Now I'm going to screw up New Directions."

"No, you're not." And he pulls away from her a little bit so he can actually look at her. "Rachel, you're doing an amazing job… These kids love you. And who cares about New York or LA? This is where you're supposed to be right now, or you wouldn't be here. You're here for a reason, and you're not screwing anything up. You're helping build something totally amazing."

Rachel frowns, and he can tell she doesn't feel the same way. "My life was _perfect, _and I messed it all up. And now I'm back here in Ohio coaching _glee club!"_

"You don't think that's important?"

"I was on _Broadway, _Sam. I was living my actual real life dream. And now I'm in Lima."

Sam sits down on the piano bench and doesn't say anything for a second. He stares at the ground before he finally gets his thoughts together. "It sucks that you feel that way."

"What way?" And she sits down right beside him, her voice suddenly a whole lot calmer than it was just a few seconds ago.

"Like this isn't important. It _is. _Why do you think I came back here? I was living my real life dream, too, you know?"

"You left because you got what you wanted and because you hated New York. So you wanted to go home. That's what you _wanted."_

"Yeah, I wanted to go _home._ Look around, Rachel. Do you see my family anywhere?" She just stares at him and doesn't say anything. "I didn't grow up here. This isn't where my family is. I only lived here a few years. But when I think about home, this is it."

"Lima sucks, Sam."

"I'm not talking about Lima. I'm talking about McKinley. _This _is my home. It's the only place I've ever belonged in my entire life. And you want to know why?"

"Why?" And now her voice is super quiet, and she's looking right at him.

"Because of glee club. Because of New Directions. I told Spencer this would be the best thing he ever did, and I wasn't lying. I know it will be because it was the best thing that ever happened to me."

"Sam…"

He doesn't let her finish, though. "You know what my favorite memory of all time is?" He doesn't wait for an answer. "Sectionals in my junior year. And it wasn't because we had some awesome amazing set list or because we won some giant trophy. Hell, I'm pretty sure that was the most messed up we ever were. We didn't have enough people, all the girls were gone, you couldn't compete… But none of that's what I think about. I just remember standing there on the stage with Finn and Puck and all those guys, and I just felt like everything was finally going to be okay. My life was pretty screwed up then, and for months, it just felt like one thing on top of another. But right then when we were on that stage, I just felt like all of that was behind me and like I was exactly where I needed to be. And nothing else mattered because I was finally back home."

There's a long minute of silence after that, and Rachel just sits there looking at him. He tries really hard to keep all of his emotions in check and not show too much, but he also doesn't really care that much. He finally gets the rest of his thoughts together.

"And Rachel, maybe this isn't New York or LA, but that doesn't mean it isn't important. Because I guarantee you there's somebody sitting in those chairs over there who thinks this is the most important thing in the world. And if you just take a second and think, I know you'll remember how special this is."

Rachel blinks at him, and then she nods. "Being part of something special makes you special…"

He nods back at her. It takes a second, but then she smiles at him, just a small, shy smile. Her eyes are still kind of wet, and he's not totally positive that she still won't start crying or something. But then she takes his hand and puts it in her lap.

"Thank you." And it's pretty much just a whisper, but he hears it and understands what it means.

"Rachel, you _are _special. And you're doing something amazing in here. Trust me."

"I do trust you."

She's looking at him so intently, and he's pretty sure her words mean a lot of different things. Part of him wants to jump on it and just see where it goes, but a bigger part of him knows that things take time, and that's okay. Rachel needs him, and he's going to do everything he can to be there for her. He'll be her friend, and maybe someday he'll be something more.

But for now, they'll work on making something special.

…

…

…


End file.
